Electric switch-lock.



W. P. NEUBBRT @L W. E. SMITH. ELECTRIC SWITCH LOCK. APPLICATION FILED MAR.24, 1914. 1,126,834, Patented Feb. 2, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

FRG.

INVENTOHS W. P. NEUBERT L W. E. SMITH.

ELECTRIC SWITCH LOCK.

APPLICATION ULBD MMM, 1914.

Lm@ Petented Feb.2,1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WGA

INVENTOR @fe/Wmuwvf W. P. NBUBBRT L W. E. SMITH.

ELECTRIC SWITCH LOCK.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.24.1914.

Patented Fb. 2, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

w n N E V N W/ TNE NES S- cated by the line II-II in Fig. l.

UNITED STATES PATEN orion.

WALTER I. NEUBERT, E WILKINSBUEG, AND WILLIAM E. SMITH, 0F PITTSBURGH,

PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNORS TO THE UNION SWITCH & SIGNAL COMPANY, OF SWISS- VALE, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION'OF PENNSYLVANIA.

ELECTRIC SWITCH-LOCK.

Specification of Letters Patent.l

Patenten ret. 2', 1915.

Application filed March 24, 1914. Serial No. 826,913.

burgh, in the county. of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Switch-Locks, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to electrically controlled locks for railway switches.

Locks embodying our invention are particularly adapted for the control of outlying switches, that is, switches which are moved by a manual lever at the switch, the loch being electrically controlled from a distant point such as a signal tower, a telegraph station, or by a slgnal.

rPhe present invention 1s an improvement on the lock shown in United States Letters Patent No. 914,447 granted to Walter P. Neubert on March 9, 1909.

One feature of the present invention is 'tirait the electromagnet which controls the is denergized while the switch lever is d, thereby eliminating the consumption current by the device at such times. live will describe one form of lock emlaodying our invention, and will then point out the novel features thereof in claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 a view showing in vertical section one ferm of lock embodying our invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the plane indi- Fig. 3 is a view of a portion of the lock looking at the left-hand side of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view showing one arrangement of circuit for controlling the loclc by a signal. Fig. 5 is a plan view of a railway switch, and of an operating mechanism therefor including the lock shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. Fig. 6 is a side view of the opeinitingr mechanism and lock shown in Fig. 5.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts in each ofv the'views.

Referring irstvto Figs. 5 and 6, the reference characters 10, designate the movrails of a railway switch, which rails are connected, by a rod 11, with a switch sperating device 11El operated in turn by a switch operating lever 12. These parts may be of any preferred construction, and may be connected together in any desired manner, so that movements of the operating 'lever will cause movements of the switch rails.

Referringnow to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the locking mechanism is inclosed in and supported by asuitable casing comprising a base 13 and a body portion 13al which parts are detachably connected together by bolts 13b. Part ofe the mechanism is protected by a cover 14 pivotally attached to the body portion 13a by a pin 14a. When the switch occupies the normal position and in which it is shown in Fi g. 5 the lever 12 rests on a portion of the base 13 between the body portion 13d and two spaced standards 15, 15 integral with the base 13. Pivotally mounted between these standards on a pin 17 is a latch 16 having a handle 16b and a nose portion 16a, which latter, when the latch is in either of the positions shown in Fig. 1, overhangs the lever 12 and prevents the latter from being lifted to move the switch. This latch is adapted to occupy three positions, viz., an intermediate position shown in full lines in Fig-1, one extreme position shown in dash lines in Fig. 1,and another extreme position in which its nose 16a is swung downwardly out of the path of lever 12. The movements of the latch 16 are controlled by means which we will now describe.

Pivotally mounted between the standards 15, on another pin 20 is a member 19 whose upper end projects into the recess 21 inthe under edge of latch 16. rThe lower end of this member is bifurcated and straddles the end of a rod 23l slidably mounted /in base 13. Member 19 is pivotally connected with the rod; by a pinl 52 passing through a slot 53 in each leg of the member. Screwed to the other end of rod 23 is a block 18 which is pivotally connected by `a pin with a jaw 25b forming part of a Thisnotch is elongated to permit the plate to roch through a limited angle when the dog 27 is in locking position, for a purpose hereinafter explained. The dog 27 is formed on one end of a bar 28 the other end of which is fixed to one arm of an angle lever 29 pivotally mounted on a pin 30 supported in lugs on a magnet bracket 32a, which latter is attached to the body mem ber 13a. The other arm of angle lever 29 carries an armature 33 adapted to be attracted by an electromagnet 32 mounted in lthe bracket 32a. lVhen the magnet 32 is energized it will attract its armature and lift the dog 27 out of the notch 26, thereby leaving plate free to rock, but when the magnet is denergized the dog 27 drops onto plate 25 and into the notch 26 when lthe latter moves into alinement therewith.

As long as the dog 27 is in the notch 26,

`plate 25 cannot be swung to the left any 20 farther than the position in which it is shown in Fig. 1, hence the rod 23 and member 19 then prevent latch 16 being raised far enough to unlock the switch lever 12. Any strain on the dog 27 caused by an attempt to swing the latch 16 while the dog is in the notch will be taken up by a stop 38 which is attached to the body 13a, thus preventing this strain being transmitted to the bar 28 or the pivot pin 30.

The sliding rod 23 is not mounted directly in the base 13, but slides in a sleeve 22 which in turn slides in suitable holes n the base 13. The movement of this sleeve in one direction is limited by the engagement of a4 flange 22a on the: sleeve with a' stop 31 screwed into the base 13. The sleeve is biased against this stop by springs 24 and,

. spring is to hold the rod 23 and the parts connected therewith in the positions shown in full lines. these positions being the intermediate positions. When latch 16 is ldepressed to the position shown in dash lines it moves rod 23 to the left against the action of spring 36, thereby swinging plate 25 so that the left-hand end of notch 26 lies underdog7 27. Then if latch 16 is released it is returned to the full-line position by spring 36. This movement of rod 23 independently of sleeve 22 is permitted by the space 40 between the block 18 and the end of sleeve 22, and it will be seen that this movement of the parts may occur even when dog 27 is in the notch 26.

The plate 25 controls contacts in the following manner. Fixed to this plate is a cam 37 which coac-ts with an a'rm 41 pivotally mounted lat 41a in a lug attached to a block 42 of insulating material, which block is mounted on ,arms extending upwardly from the bracket 32. raised, raises a groo'ved collar 45 of insulat- This arm. when" block 42. When plate 25 is inthe position shown or is swung to the left from this position, cam 37 holds Contact 46a-47 closed, but when the upper part of the plate swings to the right the cam allows this contact to open. rlhis contact is employed to control magnet 32 as hereinafter explained. Fixed to spring 46 is a bar 48 of insulating matcrial which supports and moves contact fingers 49 and 49a which may be employed forany desired purpose. 1

The operation of the lock is as follows: When the parts are left to themselves, they occupy the positions in which they are shown iil .full lines in Fig. 1. Contact 46a-47 is then closed so that magnet 32 is energized (it being assumed thatthe contact which controls this magnet from a distant point is also closed) and dog 27 is therefore lifted from notch 26. If now latch 16 is depressed to the dash line position, plate 25 is rocked to the right, thereby opening contact 46a-47, which denergizes magnet-32 so that dog 27 falls into notch 26. The parts can then be locked in this position by pass.

ing a padlock 50 through a hole 16c in latch 16, the lock bearing against lthe under sur-` faces of lips 15a on standards 15. Then to release the switch lever the operator presses von handle 16b with his 'foot and removes the pad-lock. yHe then removes his foot from the latch whereupon the spring 36 moves rod 23 to the right, thereby moving latch 16 to the full line position and moving plate 25 to the position shown. ,This closes contact 46E-47, s o lthat if the circuit for magnet 32is closed at the distant point the magnet now becomes energized and moves dog 27 out of notch 26. The operator now grasps the latch handle 16b and swings it upwardly so that the nose 16a moves out of Y the path of switch lever 12 andthe latter is then free to be raised. During this ymovement, the lower end of member 19 engages the nut 22, thereby movingsleeve 22 inwardly and so compressing spring 24.

Then as soon as the' operator releases latch not consuming energy. This is an important feature of our'invention., Another featurev of importance is that after the operator removes the padlock from latch -16 he must remove his oot therefrom and then grasp the sitions and magnet 32 raises dog 27. Hence, y

this time interval insures that when the operator starts to swing the latch by hand the dog 27, will be out of the notch 26 and will therefore not bind against the right-hand end of the notch.

In order to retain the latch 16 and the plate 25 in the open or unlocking position, wc provide a rod 39 (see Figs. 1, 5 and 6) one end of which is pivoted on a stud 39a mounted on the lever l2 slightly below and to the left of the center ofthe switch lever shaft 45. This rod is loosely supported to slide in an opening 42 in one of the standards 15 with its free end normally in close proximity to the member 19. Vhen the latch 16 has -moved sufficiently to clear the lever 12 the member 19 will have moved out of the path of rod 39, and then when lever 12 is swung upwardly the rod 39 will be moved endwise in front of member 19 and will locK the latter against return movement under the influence of spring 24. The rod 39 will remain in the locking position, even though it may move endwise, until the lever 12 is returned to the normal position. Lever 12 thus controls the return of the plate 25 to locking position, and as soon as the lever.

`by an outside force while the switchlever is reciprocated longitudinally.

in this position.

Referring now to Fig. 4, the switch A is moved by a rod 51`which is adapted to be This rod is provided with a slot 51a in which slides a rod 23 operatively connected with a plate 25 included in a lock-embodying our invention. The connection here shown between the switch rails and the plate 25 is merely diagrammatic, the purpose of this view being to show how electromagnet 32 may be con.- trolled by contact 46a-47. It will be seen that while the dog 27 is in the notch 26 the plate 25 can be swung` to open and close contact 46a-47, but that this movement is not suicient to fully withdraw rod 23 from slot 51. Magnet 32 is included in circuit with contact 46a-47, and also with a contact 54 operated by a distant signal S located in the rear of a home signal S which governs traffic over switch A. When signal S is in the clear position, contact 54 is closed; then if plate 25 is swung lto the right as far" as it is permitted by dog 27, contact 46a-47 will be closed so that magnet 32 will be energizedi Plate 25 .can then be swung farther to the right, thereby withdrawing rod 23 from slot 51a and so unlocking the switch.

Although we have herein shown and described only one form of lock embodying our invention, it is understood that various changes and modifications may be made therein within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and scope of our invention.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is: 1. In combination, a switch operating lever, a latch adapted to prevent movement of said lever, a plate operatively connected with said latch, a notch in said plate, an electromagnet, a dog controlled by said magnet for engaging said notch, means for biasing said latch and plate to an intermediate position, the said notch being of such length that it permits movement of the parts between said intermediate position and one extreme position when the magnet isvdenergized but not in the other direction from the intermediate position unless the magnet is energized, a contact controlling said magnet which contact is controlled by the plate and is closed or open according as the plate occupi'es the intermediate position or the firstmentloned extreme pos1t1on, and means ior `locking said movable parts in the iirst-mentioned eXtreme position.

2. In combination, a switch operating lever, a latch adapted to prevent movement of said lever, a sliding rod operatively connected with said latch, a plate operatively connected with said rod, a notch in the plate, an electromagnet, a dog controlled by said magnet and adapted to coact with said notch; means for biasing said latch and plate to an intermediate position comprising a sleeve slidably mounted on said rod, a stop for said sleeve, a spring for biasing said sleeve against the stop, a collar iixed on said rod and a second spring acting on `said collar and on said sleeve; the notch being of such length-as to permit movement of 'the parts to one extreme position from said intermediate position against the action of one of said springs when the dog is in the notch but to prevent movement in the other direction from said intermediate position unless the dog is out of the notch; a Contact controlling said magnet which contact is controlled by the plate and is closed or open according as the plate occupies the intermediate position or the first-mentioned cxtreme position, and means for locking said movable parts in the first-mentioned extreme position.

3. In combination, a switch operating` lever, a latch having an intermediate position and two extreme positions' and adapted to prevent movement of the switch operating lever when in the intermediate position and one extreme position but not when in the other eXtreme position, a sliding rod, a plate connected with said rod to move therewith, a notch in said plate, an electromagnet, a dcg controlled by said magnet for engaging said notch, a sleeve slidably mounted on said rod, a spring pressing upon said sleeve, a stop for said sleeve, a pivotally mounted member pivctally-connected with said rod and adapted to press upon the sleeve in opposition to said spring, a collar lixed to said rod, a second spring interposed between said collar and said sleeve, a surface on said latch operating when the latch is moved from the intermediate position to the rstmentioned extreme position to move said member and the rod in one direction to compress the second spring, the sleeve being then held by said stop whereby the plate is then moved in one direction from an intermediate position, the notch being of such length that said movement is permitted when the dog is in engaging position, another surface on said latch operating when the latch is movedin the other direction from its intermediate position vto move the member in the other direction, the member then engaging the sleeve to slide the rod and the sleeve in the other direction thereby moving the plate in the other direction and compressing the rst spring;a Contact controlled by said plate and closed when the plate occupies the intermediate position and when it is swung in the last-mentioned direction therefrom, but opened when -the plate is swung in the first-mentioned direction, said contact controlling the electromagnet, and means for locking the latch in the extreme position in which is prevents movement of the switch lever; l *Y In testimony whereof we aiiix our signatures, each in the presence of two witnesses.

WALTER P.' NEUBERT. .WILLIAM E. SMITH. Witnesses:

A. L. VENCILL, `A. HERMAN WEGNER. 

